Imagine this: a TV listings app that can make your iPhone alert you with a sound when your favourite show is about to start, even if you don't have the app running. A to-do list app that can give you pop-up alerts when a task is due or needs to be started. A turn-by-turn directions app that can speak directions through the speaker/headphones and display a map image when you get to the right point in your journey.
The Calendar app can already do part of this - ie. it can pop up alerts at a scheduled time and play a chime. This API should be made available to app developers, and extended to include triggers based on location as well as time. And same as the Calendar alerts, they should include a button that takes you back into the app.
For example, OmniFocus for iPhone has an incredible feature called "Nearby", that will search your to-do list for actions you can do near your current location. But it would be really handy if it could proactively tell you, rather than only when you open the app.
It would also be really handy if you could configure the alert to use speech services to speak the text via the headphones if they are plugged in. (This is a general wish for all pop-up alerts, including SMS.) Because if the headphones are plugged in, the phone is usually in your bag/pocket.
Turn-by-turn directions apps would be useful for walking/biking/transit - not just driving. It would be great if they could let you use other maps and still alert you when you need to turn a corner. For this it would be very handy to allow display of images as well, like the new MMS feature in 3.0 does.
No comments:
Post a Comment